I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Letterman Should Teach Classes On Apologizing
photo credit: -emmaphotos
In case you’re head has been in the sand for the last week you might have noticed Gov. Palin spewing outrage over a joke told by Letterman regarding one of her daughters (which daughter depends on which side of the political line you stand). Yesterday he issued an apology for the joke, one that was freaking brilliant as far as apologies go.
It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. … Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.”
This apology should be taught in school, this apology should be framed and hung in public spaces, at the very least it should be printed and used to slap around certain people who don’t know how to apologize correctly. Look at it. First he says it doesn’t matter what he meant, it matters how it was taken. He says it was his fault for her misunderstanding. And he apologizes to everybody who was offended by the joke.
Let’s look at some recent examples of crappy apologies to compare.
When a GOP staff member in Tennessee sent out a racist image of Obama to the wrong people her apology went like this:
“I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button,” Goforth told NIT. “I’m very sick about it, and it’s one of those things I can’t change or take back.”
Yes, she’s sick to death about it. Not about sending the picture or thinking it’s funny or just being a racist asshole. No, just sorry that she emailed it to the wrong people.
And then a Republican activist in South Carolina called Michelle Obama a gorilla his apology went something like this:
“I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone,” said DePass. “The comment was clearly in jest.”
There’s a pretty marked difference between these apologies. Letterman acknowledges that it was a joke but also notes that how the joke is taken is more important than what was meant. DePass goes the other route with an “it was just a joke, get over it” attitude. Letterman apologies to everybody he offended, DePass apologizes if he offended anyone. Hell, even the apology for Depass’s crappy apology sucks ass.
Eric Davis, the current chairman of the Richland County Republicans, said his predecessor should get a pass. “Everyone says stupid things they regret later. I think the world should move on,”
Right, everyone needs to just learn to take a joke and move on. Real classy. Unlike Letterman, who actually apologized in a meaningful way.
That is an amazing apology. For someone like Letterman to recognize that it doesn’t matter what he set out to do, the full implication of it is in the eye of the beholder and for him to see that is pretty freaking cool. Most people would have just defended themselves.
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I agree. It was a great apology – even though I don’t necessarily think he needed to apologize. But then again, I detest everything the Palin’s stand for, and I revel in any humiliation that ridiculous woman feels. Wow, that sounds mean — I just felt so utterly betrayed by that “feminist” during the election. I feel like she set us back, and opened old wounds, and for that I feel a lot of negativity toward her.
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I thought the same thing when I read Letterman’s apology. It’s been so long since I’ve heard a REAL apology- Classy!
I am really impressed by Letterman’s apology. That is how it is done!
Unfortunitly they’re still calling for his skin…you see…the fact that it was such a LONG DRAWN out apology is aparently dispicable to the right wing talking heads (Pete insists on listening to them in the morning…bah.) they’re also angry because in his apology he didn’t apologize for the remarks about Palin’s “sexy flight attendant” look….some people are just never happy. I think he should have ignored the whole thing. The right is just in an uproar because they’ve got nothing better to be uproared about in the current moment (although there are PLENTY of far more important things going on that you could choose to be mad about rather than David Letterman…oy.)
1) Hell yeah.
2) Read this in my feed reader and snorted so hard I had to come comment. :p
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